BEER tasting might rank as a dream job for anyone who enjoys an ale or two, but it's a serious business.
Over the weekend some of NSW's most discerning taste-masters gathered at Edgeworth Bowling Club as the Hunter United Brewers hosted the NSW State Home Brew competition for the second time in three years.
Stouts, India pale ales and pale ales were popular among the entries, but the top award, Best In Show, was claimed by Griffith brewer Adam Gaffey for his lambic, a sour Belgian-style beer.
Hunter United Brewers Allan Wade was the runner-up with his English barleywine and Gaffey claimed third with his American light lager.
There were 21 individual categories judged over the two days. Newcastle's David Pontin won the Best Wheat or Rye Beer for his German-style Roggenbier.
"I brewed it as bit of an experiment and stuck it in and I wasn't expecting to place, but it seems like it went well," Pontin said.
"It was my first time trying to brew that style."
Brewers enter two bottles of their beer, an A and B sample. The A sample is used for the initial judging, and if they qualify for the best in show, the B bottle is opened.
There were 10 judges on each day, plus another five apprentice judges whose results weren't recorded.
"Everything is anonymous," Hunter United Brewers committee member and judge Stephen McLean said.
"So when all the beers are entered they get a entry number and a random number goes on them so that nobody, not even the stewards, know whose beer it is.
"The judges get presented with a beer and a glass and that's all."
McLean said undertaking the Beer Judge Certification Process to become a qualified state level taster was a lengthy undertaking.
"The process to becoming a judge is hard," he said. "There were seven of us who undertook the tasting exam with three national level judges in attendance," he said.
"It's taken us 12 months of study and tasting to understand what the beers are, what the styles are, how they should be represented and on the day we were presented with six beers for blind tasting."
Newcastle already has a national reputation as a beer hot spot due to its award-winning craft breweries like FogHorn, Thirsty Messiah, Good Folk and Modus.
McLean said the Hunter's amateur brewing scene is also highly regarded.
"The quality of home brews are definitely improving all the time as people get more accustomed to it and more people go to all-grain brewing," he said.
All the top-three place-getters in each category receive entry into the Australian Amateur Brewing Championships in Brisbane on October 26.
